1/10/13

Early to bed, late to rise

When Oliver was about two-months-old, I began his all important bed-time routine: Bath, Boob, Bed. Since beginning said routine, FTD and I have had an ongoing argumentdisagreement discussion, about whether having Oliver go to sleep at a later time would make him wake up later. FTD insisted late to sleep, late to rise. It makes sense, put him to bed late, he will wake up late. Well, WRONG! I have always said, "No, FTD, as usual you are man-rational-wrong," and to that he would say, "Balls! Late to bed, late to rise. Don't you know anything?" Lucky, FTD is not a complete idiot, he follows along with the routine as I set it, but still, like a mad-child, he still complains.

With Oliver doing well to sleep through the night now, I wanted to make sure I did in fact have him on the most optimal bed-time routine...

Eat 6:30pm
Bath 7:00pm (This is FTD's fun-time with Ollie, playing through bath and getting him ready for bed, it takes a while)
Boob: 7:30pm
Bed: 8:00pm

Ollie usually wakes for a feeding between 5:30-6am, and will sometimes go back to sleep until 7. Now, to crush FTD's way of thinking, I know from experience, putting Oliver to bed really late, NEVER gets him to sleep longer. And because FTD rarely gets up with him, no boobs and all, I am the one who suffers the late to bed, very early to rise baby wrath. Most times he goes to sleep late, he wakes to feed around 5-6am and refuses to go back to bed. It sucks! And I want to cry... all day... from those up at butt-crack-of-dawn early mornings.

So, after the constant back and forth between FTD and I, I decided to do some online research about the optimal bed-time routine for an 11-month-old baby. While some things varied with either doing the boob before bath, or bath then boob, everything I read agreed, get the baby to sleep as close to 7pm as possible.

Last night, I started Ollie's dinner at 6pm, had him in the bath by 6:30pm and nursing by 7pm.This routine had him fast asleep by 7:30pm, which would be close to an hour earlier than most nights! He woke up to nurse at 5am, went back to sleep very easily and then...Holy Shit! It worked! He woke up at 7:45am!!! I was awake and ready for him. What a glorious freaking morning I had!

Needless to say our new routine is set for bed by 7pm.

If you are having issues, I HIGHLY recommend trying an earlier bedtime. Cut out the late afternoon nap if you have to.

Oh, and I suppose I will share a bit of sad bad news with you.... I fell asleep at 8pm last night, slept solid until Ollie woke up to eat... that's my first full 8-hours of sleep since he was born... no, since well before he was born... Where is the bad news you ask?

UNDER MY FU#KING EYES!!!! After 8-hours of sleep I was sure that I would finally be free of the ridiculously dark puffy circles under my eyes. I ran to the mirror, so excited to see what I looked like well rested and refreshed...Well, I looked THE FU#KING SAME!!! WHAT THE HELL???? WHY?? Please, God, Please take these dark circles away. Please let me look my age, and not 55 with wrinkles, dark circles and grey hair. I have been a good mommy, I am sleeping now too, why do I still have to look like Ass? Why?

Ok, I digress... Ollie slept great! Now even FTD agrees, when it comes to a baby: Early to Bed, Late to Rise, is the best.

Two confused parents=One amused baby Hopelessly we are trying raise a baby who is clearly smarter than both of us. April is an award-winning writer, blogger and proud debut novelist - The Devlyn Disguise. Her work has been published in over ten countries and four languages. From books to newspapers, to print/online magazines and everything in between, you can find her work. For more about April, Visit AprilMcCormick.com